September is the time not only for school returns or off-season holidays but also for the final cut of the year for wildflower meadows. What is a wildflower meadow? - you may ask. In contrast to gardens with beds filled with perennials planted in fertile soil, the meadows are areas of permanent grass where wildflowers can grow. Whether looking messy or vibrant and colourful, the meadows provide habitat for insects, bees, butterflies and birds, much needed in urban areas.

This year's mini-meadow Autumn cutback at Friary Gardens had six guests from GoodGym Ealing and Hounslow:

• Steph - the hunt of the litter - armed with two litter pickers, this cowboy from the Wild West (Hayes) shot down all the crooked bottles and cans he found.
• Michelle - the outlander - scouted the gardens' frontier and cut down all the trespasser grasses.
• Sevan - the one raising the stakes - marked the dog poo left irresponsibly by the dog owners with bamboo poles to prevent others from stepping into the "landmines" (ironically, not preventing himself from doing that at the very end of the task).
• Penny - shear persistence - diligently cut the grassy plants sticking out and left them in the meadow per Juliet's (the task owner) instructions to encourage the wildflower growth the following year.
• Kash - the trim reaper - with her bramble-proof gloves, collected all the prickly stems and piled them in the compost bin.
• Gus - the human garden shredder - chopped the trimmings like a machine to fit them into the compost bin.

Whether it was due to different weather this year or the earlier cutback of the mini-meadow in June, the task finished much quicker than last year. Juliet offered GoodGymers soft drinks, homebaked brownies and Madeleines. And a bonus task!

Penny and Kash stayed to dig out squares in the grass to reach the bare soil where Friends of Friary Gardens had planned to put a new wildflower mix. Meanwhile, Sevan wheelbarrowed the extracted grassy patches to the compost bin. That job concluded the sunny September Sunday in Acton, and the GoodGymers ran, walked or cycled home to make the most of the last hours of the weekend.

The First Grassade, a campaign to recover Friars Gardens from the rule of invasive grasses, dates back to September 2023 when seven GoodGymers stood beside Friends of Friars Gardens in the Battle of Mini-Meadow. The dominion of the grass was crumbled by the manual power of shears and rakes. Nine months later, the grass army was rebuilt, sponsored by sunshine and rains. Juliet from Friends of Friars Gardens called the GoodGymers to join the Second Grassade.

The spies reported that the enemy forces besieged the garden plants, cutting them off from the supply of sun and nutrients. Galium aparine (a.k.a. sticky willy) was choking the last stand of lavender. The huge Monster Grass held its roots tightly in the dry soil of the gardens.

The relief arrived in the form of five GoodGymers: walkers Steph Ducat and Beata, and runners: Sevan, Kash and Anuj, making their way on foot to Acton from Greenford and Northolt. Steph, Kash and Sevan were coming as veterans of some serious grass-cutting missions earlier that day, with battle scars on their legs from hidden brambles and pieces of cutting lines flying off the strimmers.

"I will have dreams about grass tonight!" - Steph

Juliet welcomed everyone with a glass of cool water from a jug (no plastic bottles on her watch!) and cheese twists. The GoodGym team grabbed shears and secateurs and joined Friends of Friars Gardens in careful tactical operations to extricate lavender and other rightful occupants of Friars Gardens from the hold of grass and sticky willy.

After two hours, the balance of power in the inner circle of Friars Gardens has been restored, and the grass retreated to the compost bin. The weeds that didn't want to surrender were thrown onto a wheelbarrow and expelled from the gardens. The 120-minute episode of GoodGym's relief culminated in the removal of the Monster Grass thanks to the joint effort of two tenacious Friends of Friars Gardens and a duo of GoodGym black t-shirt special forces. Juliet made sure everyone could celebrate victory with cake, elderflower cordial and more cold water.

GoodGym Ealing joined forces with a new community organisation this afternoon, Friends of Friars Gardens (FOFGA). They had taken control in 2016 of a neglected, triangular piece of land from the council. The green space was surrounded by houses and the local residents had joined together to clear the overgrown weeds from the space and plant a beautiful and varied community garden, which they continue to maintain. The task owner, Juliet, gave us an introduction and a tour of the gardens when we arrived.

The Friends group had asked GoodGym to come and help with the annual cutting back of their mini-meadows, areas of the gardens which host grasses, wildflowers and fruit trees. The cutting back takes place each September and is done with manual tools only to be kinder to the environment. An excellent opportunity for a full body workout for the GoodGym volunteers!

There was a strong showing of GoodGymers and they were given great tools to work with. Freshly sharpened shears were provided along with loppers, secateurs and a wheelbarrow to move the cuttings to the garden's compost pile.

The GoodGymers started with the easy stuff, chopping down the wildflowers that had risen above the grass and taking turns to roll the wheelbarrow full of cuttings to the compost pile. Well, it was reasonably easy as spiky plants and weeds were hiding in the grass too! Different methods were used to reach the bottom of the long stalks. Squatting, bending at the waist with a wide stance and for the less energetic, using long armed shears were all practised 😂

Next came the grass, which looked deceptively short. Actually, it was almost half a metre tall in places and had been flattened down over time. It took a combination of raking by Harvey and Divya, with others and pulling to make tufts of grass stand up, ready to slice back down to size. Some people worked methodically, while others walked the meadow looking for long blades of grass that caught their eye, then attacked them.

After 90 minutes, the mini-meadow looked much tidier. Its haircut was a bit uneven as we didn't have the consistency of a lawnmower. It still looked a bit wild, which everyone agreed suited its purpose and was how a meadow should look.

On a hot day, much needed refreshments were provided by FOFGA with water throughout the session. At the end there was an extra treat, cake and lemonade to re-energise us after our endeavours! 🍰